Madhvacharya, Poorna Prajnya, Ananda Teertha
Within a few weeks of his initiation into SanyAsa, pUrNapragna
debated with a famous expert scholar in Tarka (Logic) called
Vasudeva-pandita and easily defeated him.
Another famous Buddhist scholar called BuddhisAgara visited
Udupi. Another great scholar called Vadisimha, who had embraced
Buddhism after his defeat, accompanied him by Buddhisagara in a
philosophical debate. pUrNapragna easily defeated both of them.
Rejoicing at the extraordinary brilliance of pUrNapragna,
Achyuta-prekSha designated him as his successor to head the
MaTha and conferred on him the title 'Anandatirtha'. Later,
after Ananda tIrtha wrote a commentary on the BrahmasUtras
Achyuta-prekSha called him Madhva.
Actually the words Ananda tIrtha and MadhvA are synonymous. Both
mean ‘one who creates shastras that bring happiness’. But the
name MadhvAchArya is more popular than Ananda tIrtha because it
is the name used by the BaLittha Sukta of the Rigveda to
designate the third avatAra of Vayu. Acharya uses this pen-name
more often than other names in his works.
Some of the other names by which he is known are : PurNabodha,
SarvagnAchArya, Sukha tIrtha, Alam bodha, SamanvayAchArya,
Madhvamuni, and so on.